Rights commission, UNDP recommit to accelerate inclusive growth.

Speaking to pressmen at the end of the meeting, Mathieu Ciowela said the rights commission boss used the platform to brief him on the mission and mandates of the rights institution.

Ciowela said they discussed on the history of collaboration between UNDP and the rights commission and explored future areas of collaborations to further strengthen the existing partnership. 

The UNDP official said they also exchanged on the roles of the rights institution in facilitating the success of the United Nations 2030 agenda for sustainable development worldwide.

He described the rights commission as a reliable partner in supporting the UN’s push to realise the goals of the agenda such as ending poverty globally by 2030 by promoting good governance and championing efforts aimed at achieving inclusive growth. 

“If we consider the first Sustainable Development Goal, it is about reducing poverty. And all the efforts that the country, the partners are doing is about to create the environment that would help the population to live a decent life and to have access to economy. It means that human rights is translated into the Sustainable Development Goals and we find that the Commission is also in this pathway through what it is doing here in Cameroon,” he said.

Ciowela told reporters that the UNDP is looking to continue capitalising on the commission’s proven success in advocating the respect of human rights to implement well-tailored initiatives that prioritise inclusive and sustainable growth.

To this light, he mentioned plans to launch a new programme next year to give the two institutions the opportunity to better enhance the cooperation. 

Renewing longstanding partnership 

Both institutions, it should be said, have worked on several projects over the years. In late 2022, they jointly organised a capacity building workshop for 450 law enforcement officers on human rights, military and police ethics as well as gender-based violence. 

UNDP held a sub-regional dialogue in Douala in the Littoral Region on action plans related to business and human rights in June 2023 and financially and materially supported rights commission betweeen 2021 and 2024 to construct a commission’s first divisional branch in Kousséri in the Logone and Chari Division of the Far North Region.

Promising future

Asides the new programme announced by the UNDP official during the meeting, the two institutions have outlined several other projects that both structures are looking to work on as part of their cooperation. 

The commission says the first pillar projects will see the UNDP fund the renovation of the building housing the office of the South West Regional Branch of the commission to the tune of over 12 million FCFA. 

The agency will also supply the documentation centre of the commission with human rights awareness materials, fund the setting up of a statistical information system within the commission to facilitate capacity building for staff members and the production of more relevant annual reports.

The project is estimated at nine million FCFA per the commission. The Memorandum of Understanding to set up the system was signed between the Rights commission and the National Institute of Statistics in September 2023. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3867 of Monday August 03, 2026